Bit of a filler one this time but no less important. I know people usually want just action and amazing romance scenes but I find that the chapters set inbetween these moments are just as important and are needed to break up the story. Feel free to review if you wish I welcome your opinions. Enjoy this latest from Project Nomad.
Disclaimer: I do not own Korra or any of her juicy assets by which mean characters or setting. Everything else is mine.
Chapter 6 – Tensions in the Air
Korra was awoken for the second time this week to the sound of shouting Airbenders. Nam-kha and Tenzin had been at each other's throats every hour of every day since Nam had been confined to the island.
Despite this they never seemed to get any of their issues resolved. The argument went something like this; Tenzin wanted to bring Nam and the other hidden Airbenders from Temple City into the Airbending monk community. Nam would then call Tenzin a fool stuck in the past and refused to reveal the location of his "kinsmen" till he was free to get them himself.
Tenzin would then beg Nam to consider the future of the Air Nomads. Nam would then declare himself as the future of the Air Nomads and Tenzin as a bald remnant of a culture that got its self slaughtered.
They had nearly gotten into a fight over that one and surely enough...today seemed to be the same.
"The Water Tribe is in two halves, three if you count the foggy swamp lot. Why can we not be the same?" that was Nam.
"There are not enough of our people to risk segregation," Tenzin she guessed... "we must present a united front if we want to rebuild our nation."
"I'm not a monk!" shouted Nam, wow...you don't say, "I don't want to live on a rock somewhere chanting about how free I am. I want my freedom, I want to live the life of a true Nomad and without joining the arrow club!"
"The arrow is sacred!" wow Tenzin sounded mad, "a mark of our civilisation for thousands of years."
"Another relic I don't want!"
"One that you haven't even earned!"
"You know nothing about what I have earned, what I have gone through in my life while you've lived here on your island the darling of the world. I..." they must have moved out of ear shot because she did not catch the next bit.
Korra rolled tiredly onto her back and sighed. Nam was right about one thing, they knew nothing about Nam's life or the other Airbenders. She had lived her life out in the open since she was a child, she had always known she was the Avatar.
What must it have been like to live your life hiding the most important part of yourself? She could not even imagine it, both for herself and for someone like Nam. Since coming to the island there didn't seem to be a single thing he did that did not involve bending.
He even refused to use doors sometimes, preferring windows several of which were closed. He even refused to sleep where they had put him. No one was where he slept Ikki had guess it was near the Bison stables.
Resolving to speak to Nam later when she was truly awake, she rolled back over onto her side and dozed off back to sleep.
Pema was the one to wake her up a few hours later, not letting her sleep past mid day. She led her still half asleep out of her room and through the women's dormitory. They walked slowly as baby Rohan was clasped tightly on her left hip.
"I take it you heard them going at it again this morning," her voice was jovial but there was a note of worry underneath it that worried Korra a little.
"Ye it's getting worse," Korra groaned back, "how bad did it get?"
Her question was answered as they passed out of the dormitory and into the courtyard. One of the large white walls that made up the main building now had a large almost perfectly round hole blasted through it.
"...h...how...?" she tried vaguely.
Pema sighed, "Tenzin became overly insistent," she said sadly, "that's just one part of it the damage they did. It will take weeks to get the kitchens back in order."
"I guess there's no chance of Nam helping with that?" she did not know why but she felt like what ever Nam did wrong was her fault. That was going to get old really quickly.
Pema's face morphed at once from a weary expression to what Korra had come to think of her "I'm so sick of Airbenders" expression. "He promised to clean up everything that he didn't think was Tenzin's fault..." she practically growled through clenched teeth, "he hasn't done anything!"
"Do you want me to try and talk to him," a lost cause she knew but it was rare to see Pema this irritated.
"Be my guest," she sighed raking a hand worriedly through her greying hair, "just don't get your hopes up."
Feeling a little challenged Korra crossed her arms proudly across and her chest and declared, "Leave it to me, ill drag him back if I have too." Somehow...
"Sure go nuts," she did not sound hopeful, "if you need me I'll be preventing the lunatic from corrupting my children." She started back towards the main temple, shoulders hunched with worry, leaving Korra still feeling a little guilty for the trouble Nam had caused her.
Making to go after Nam she paused mid step realising she had forgotten something pretty vital, "Hey Pema," she called after her, "where did Nam go?"
If possible Pema's posture seemed to sink even lower at that, "He said something about the library," she yelled back almost inaudibly, "he said everything was in the wrong place..."
Feeling increasingly worried Korra darted off past Pema and into the main temple. She got a little lost at first and ended up on the floor above the library instead of the library its self. Worried about what Nam would do if left alone with anything breakable, she looked around for another option.
Noticing for the first time the large open window in front of her she decided to take a leaf out of Nam's book and take the Airbender rout. Diving out the window and spun in mid air and using her Airbending she created a small vacuum in front of her that propelled her to towards the window bellow...which she now remembered was always locked to keep the lemurs out...
She had no way of stopping herself so she hit the window face first. Stuck between the immense dizziness she now felt and concentrating on not falling to her death she did not have the energy to actually look into the room.
She was there for surprised when the window opened inwards. Causing her to once again fall on her face, though vertically this time.
"And that is why I stick to Earthbending," Bolin said with a bluntness Korra did not appreciate right now.
"What are you doing in here Bolin?" she groaned pushing herself up into a sitting position.
He huffed at her in an irritated fashion, "Clearly I must be holding a pro-bending match here or something because from your tone you don't believe I can read..."
Suppressing a laugh Korra pushed herself to her feet and gave him a mock bow of apology, "I am deeply sorry my friend," she said making her voice as sarcastic as possible, "in future I will endeavour not to insult such an obvious book lover like yourself."
"Careful you're starting to sound like the crazy Airbender guy," he grumbled back at her.
"Nam-kha?" she asked remembering he was the reason she had come here. She took her first real look at the room expecting to see a burning pile of ancient books or the ceiling painted bright orange.
The library however looked as it ever did, a large crescent shaped room with massive bookshelves lining the walls stacked with a mixture of old scrolls and newer books all the way to the ceiling. In the middle of the room was a large round table surrounded by small chairs and covered with open books, scraps of paper and several copies of the United Daily News.
"Ye that guy," he said offhandedly waving his right hand like the new Airbender was just some guy, "could you ask him to stop painting my face when I'm sleeping?"
"Why can't you?" she asked a little confused and then remembering her reason for visiting this room, "And where did he go Pema said he came in here? And why are you in here? I've never seen you read anything that's not a news article about yourself."
"First because Nam is super crazy and don't want anything else I own painted." he answered counting her questions out on his fingers, "To the second after he finished going through his newspapers and rearranging all Tenzin's books he said he was going to ask the guards about going shopping. Oh and to your third question...ouch, not cool. "
Ignoring the Bolin's last comment she walked over to the table and checked the papers to see what Nam was looking at. Predictably the only news over the last few days had been about either the Bombings or Nam. The break in at Future Industries seemed to have been forgotten for not and she imagined Asami was grateful for that.
The first one she had seen already, Nam had been quite proud of it after he woke up. The front page showed to joint articles, the head line at the top of the page read "Mysterious Airbender crashes damaged Airship into City Park Pond" this has cause one of the first arguments between Tenzin and Nam and had kept her, Mako and Bolin laughing for the whole day when Nam when she showed it off at the hospital (per Nam's request).
The article glossed over a lot of the details about the damage caused and focused more on the cause, that being Nam. According to the "Mysterious Airbender now under house arrest for his own protection" he had guided he falling airship by and they quote "Hitting it really hard on one side then not so hard on the other." It was accompanies by a big picture of the crashed airship sinking in the pond.
The article beneath was much smaller, crammed in underneath like they wanted to make sure everyone saw it. It was titled; "Mysterious Airbender, Hero or Menace?" and featured a very proud looking photo of Nam grinning at the camera and covered in soot. This article continued on pages 3, 4 and 5 and covered every bad thing that Nam had been reported doing over the last few years.
The list was alarmingly long and seemed to mainly consist of Nam attacking Triad members for fun or "relocating" farm animals and some people. According to Nam he had supplied them with the list, this had caused another argument.
She had not read either of the other two newspapers left on the table. The first had the very shocking headline; "Can The Police Still Protect Us?" featuring pictures of an angry Beifong, an image of the damaged police head quarters and several shot of the bombings from around the city.
She skimmed through the article conscious of the time she was wasting but to curious to ignore it. The article was largely a smear campaign against the police and Beifong herself. They didn't mention the assailant that attack the Police headquarters, but they mention a belief that both the attack on headquarters and the city was performed by some left over members of the Equalists.
Scoffing at this Korra turned to the last newspaper on the table from today, only to find that the front page was missing.
"Air boy took it with him," Bolin explained when she pointed it out, to her surprise he had actually been reading while she looked over the new papers, "he looked really annoyed about it."
"Why?" she asked frowning a little, "what was on it?"
"I don't know," he said nonchalantly but added when he saw she irritated expression, "I mentioned he's right? I'm not getting in his way this close to a window, the brats throw me around as it is!"
Shaking her head at his ridiculousness Korra left the library hoping to catch Nam before he decided to attack either the Metalbenders or the white lotus. Wanting to get there quickly she formed an air scooter to hasten her journey to the edge of the island. She marvelled for moment as she zips across the island how bizarre it was that she kept having to use this technique to get to Airbenders.
She was sure where ever Aang was inside her he was laughing.
She was about half way there when she heard it or rather felt it. It sounded like a small explosion coming from the training field. Equal parts curious and worried she redirected her scooter towards the blast.
Just as she was about to enter the training field another blast, a larger one, knocked her backwards off her scooter. Not one to fall down more than once in one day she used the momentum and her Airbending training to flip over and onto her feet.
Moving with more caution she peaked around the edge of one of the surrounding buildings. As she had been about to guess, Nam was there training. He was stood in the centre of the training area with his shirt tied like a sash around his waist, his stolen glider in his right hand
He made an impressive sight, having only seen two adult Airbenders Aang and Tenzin she had always assumed a certain leanness in there build. Nam how ever looked nothing like how she would have expected.
His shoulders and arms were thick with muscle, his chest was broad and his stomach...Realising that watching Nam like this was a little embarrassing she ducked out of sight and hoped she was imagining the heat on her face.
She stayed hidden for a while, sneaking a peak every now and again at Nam's training (and nothing else). His style of Airbending was very unlike Tenzin's as she had seen before, the result of years of self training she guessed.
Many of his movements were similar, he swerved, ducked and spun like she had always in her own training. But he combined these movements with powerful strikes that caused the explosive sound that had lured her there. It was amazing, she had thought of Airbending as almost like a whip to be used to fling her opponents around. She had only ever used it once in a truly conventional style and that had only worked because of the surprise value she had had.
This was something else; Nam's punches, kicks and staff blows had a concussive force that she had never seen outside of Firebending. It was greater in fact, it was like small explosions of air erupted from his fists and went where ever he wished them. Say what she did about Nam's character she had to admit watching him now and thinking back to how he had fought Chen, he was an amazing bender.
She was snapped out of her line of thought by the loud lazy roar of a Sky Bison. Pocking her head back round the corner she noticed, sadly for the first time, that the same massive bison she had seen when she had first met Nam was resting on the edge of the training area. He was one of the biggest she had seen in the stables though she knew he was still a young one.
"Oh and you can do better?" Nam asked the Bison sarcastically, "I know your giant and equally smelly ancestors invented this art but I invented this form."
Another loud roar this one sounding a little disgruntled.
"Alright I concede that you may have things to teach me," Nam replied as if he understood the giant Bison, "but I work best with self teaching. So it's best for both you and Captain arrow head if you keep your ideas down to subtle suggestions."
Another roar, this one sounding more pleased with itself.
"Yes I know you also have an arrow on your head," Nam continued, "you pull it off better though and no I'm not getting one."
"Nam why are you talking to a Sky Bison?" came the sudden voice of Ikki.
"This not just any Sky Bison," objected Nam, "this is master Gigantus and he is training me to throw my guards further out into Yue Bay."
"His name is Jojo," Ikki cut in without missing a beat and continued, "Why are you wearing your shirt as a belt?"
"Because I look fabulous this way," Nam countered, "next question."
"Why can't I Airbend like that?"
"Because Air likes me more, next"
"What happened to your big coat?"
"An airship fell on it, next."
"You're lying!" she accused angrily.
"Am not then a hobo stole it for bedding, next."
"How did you get Jojo out here without the Acolytes stopping him?"
"Master Gigantus go goes where he will, he's a free spirit. Next!"
"Why did you throw my dad through a wall?"
"I punched him through the wall and as to why I was trying to squash a bug, next."
"Why don't you where Airbending cloths like the rest of us?"
"I don't want to look like a dessert, next."
"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"Yes several, most now hate me, one is trying to kidnap me. Next."
"Do you like Korra?"
"Yes she's feisty, next."
Korra, who had been trying to stop herself from giggling, felt herself smile a little at that one.
"What happened to your weird goggles?"
"My goggles were awesome and it was a combo of Korra and a burning airship, next."
"Why is Korra hiding over there?"
Korra froze.
"She finds me too attractive to look at directly."
"I do not!" she yelled angrily leaping without thinking from her hiding place. She was greeted by the smug grins of both Nam and Ikki, must be an Airbender thing.
"Hey Korra!" Ikki shouted to her waving over her head like Korra could not see her at this point.
"It's Avatar Korra Ikki," Nam said chidingly, "she gets mad when you say it wrong."
"Shut up and I was not hiding Ikki and was waiting for him to finish," ye that would convince them...
Nam jut looked smugger at that but Ikki was nodding in agreement, "Makes sense it's what Jinora and I were doing a minute ago...OW!" a sandal had just collided with her head.
"Hey Jin," called Nam who seemed to be loving the attention, "enjoying the show."
A very embarrassed looking Jinora climbed off the roof where she imagined Ikki and floated down from a minute ago. It struck Korra how much more grown up Jinora was looking recently, she usually saw her playing with her siblings or training.
Now with her face bright red and a small white flower casually tucked into her hair band, she looked older. She was almost twelve now Korra realised and an odd maternal side of her lamented that Jinora would soon become a teenager. Somewhere in the spirit world Aang must be watching her the same way, it made her feel older.
"Hey Nam...Korra," the poor girl looked like she was about to bolt.
"Hi Jinora," Korra replied trying to sound as kind as possible.
Nam seemed to disagree with this tactic, "Have you seen my flute anywhere, it's been missing since I got back." Korra had hidden it in the White Lotus building.
Jinora quickly shook her head and without saying another word she ran from the training area jumping onto an air scooter after a few metres and was gone in the blink of an eye.
"What was that about?" questioned Nam flexing his shoulders deliberately the second she looked at him.
"Put a shirt on Nam your scaring small children!" she said angrily, she had been that age once and had had crushes of her own. It seemed unfair that Nam could be his usual annoying self when Jinora was having problems.
He gave her a scathing look, "I have one other shirt with me and its being washed," he complained, "if you want me dressed then expect me to be walking around shirtless for a while because this shirt will me filthy too."
"My dad says you can have some of his cloths while you're here," offered Ikki in an oddly helpful way.
"Not if we were in the South Pole and my life was on the line!"
Ok now Korra was annoyed, "Put on the shirt Nam!" she commanded crossing her arms over her chest.
"Would you be surprised if I said no?" he asked gesturing with his hands mockingly to emphasize his point.
"Put on the shirt!" she commanded again, taking a step towards him.
He took a step away from her, "No it's far more fashionable as a belt!"
She continued after him, it took her a moment to realise she was now chasing him around the training area, "Put on the shirt!"
The Sky Bison Jojo roared in an amused kind of way.
"See mater Gigantus agrees with me!" Nam said pointing towards the Bison.
"What did he say?" she asked trying to distract him long enough to tackle him, it did not work.
Nam frowned mockingly at her, "Nothing he's a Sky Bison," and with that he jumped over her head and landed on an air scooter.
She did not see him again for three days after that, she had completely forgotten after the Newspaper article he had hidden and would not remember an till she sore him next. On the beach after her date with Mako.
Dont worry if you dislike the none violent nature of this chapter you will have more angst next time. Please review and read next time, Im writing this mainly to avoid doing my uni work.
Next time: Korra celabrates Mako's recovery and finds out more about about Nam's mysterious past.